The first and oldest documented sightings occurred in 1816.That year, there were four sightings by
eight individuals.They were discussed
in an 1854 journal written by Ralph Merry, IV of Magog, QC.Also involved in the sightings were Uriah
Jewett ((1795-1868) of Georgeville, QC and Stewart Channel and his wife.They reported seeing a serpent about 30
feet long, with a “horse shaped head” and a neck above the water line.The journal containing these accounts
was hidden in the floor boards in the old Merry House in Magog and discovered
during renovations.It was given
to the Stanstead Historical Society on August 2, 1969.

Barbara Malloy reports having seen Memphre on several occasions.Her first sighting occurred from a hill
overlooking Horseneck Island around 5:00 p.m. on August 12, 1983.She and three other witnesses were in a
car looking out on the lake.The
water was calm.They saw a
creature swimming extremely fast.In its wake, it left waves “like a speed boat would make.”According to Malloy, the creature was
dark brown and had a head like a horse, with a long neck.She estimated the size to be “longer
than a house.”She and the others
watched for one or two minutes until the animal swam to the middle of the lake
and disappeared.

Perhaps one of the most compelling encounters was reported by Billy
Connor, the very first person to swim the length of the lake in 1955, when he
was 19 years old.On November 12,
1990 Billy Connor gave a written statement to Jacques Boisvert of Magog, QC, Barbara
Malloy’s Canadian colleague and co-founder of the International Dracontology Society of Lake Memphremagog.

Dear Jacques,

You will recall our
recent conversation in your office.I have decided, after over 35 years of keeping it to myself, to relate
the bare facts of my swim down Lake Memphremagog.

As you know, some
of the most beautiful, and helpful things that occur to us on this planet, and
some of the noblest conceptions we have, concern things that we cannot prove,
or things that require from us a certain degree of faith.One of the most powerful, useful, and
beautiful of these is the one which concerns the existence of angels.

That was my
impression, now for the facts, otherwise un-interpreted by me.They took place during the night of
August 22, 1955, when I swam the length of Lake Memphremagog.

At McPherson Bay a
lightning storm was raging.It was raining so hard that the drops of water hurt my head and I was
becoming chilled from tensing up.All of a sudden, "toute a coup” I was conscious of a presence in
the water just ahead of me and, as I felt, about 30 feet below me.It gave off a sense of warmth and,
without reflecting, I instinctively headed slightly off course to get close to
this comforting “source.”

For5 minutes I followed this divergence, then
I felt that I must bring myself to my senses… heh, I am a modern man,
scientific, you know.

But it was too
late, my boats have lost me, by now.My friend Pit Lavoie, Garth Jackson and Alfred Whittier will confirm
this.

As they were
calling me, however, and I called to them, the water ahead of me burst open and
an ugly (ugly to me, and frightening) head emerged from the water.The lips were pursed and gave me the impression
that they were painted with lipstick.And definitely trying to give me the impression that this was a friendly
entity and perhaps even helpful.Being unable to speak, it was giving me a sign language, that of the
kiss, that I must not be upset.And, so strong was the communication, that I was not upset, though I
questioned my sanity.

The heading of the
creature, dare I call it an angel, changed radically so that I was heading
toward the escorting fleet, and once again on course for Magog.

Until we reached
the shallowing waters around Bryant's Landing, and with the coming of the
overcast dawn, the “guide” kept herself about 40 yards in front of me and about
the same distance below the escorting boat.Actually, for most of the time my rowboat was between me and
this exceedingly powerful source of comfort.

I hereby certify
that this is the story I wish to tell you on this 12th day of
November, 1990.

/s/
William Connor

Best of luck in
your search.

In summer 2011, Elaine Kornbau Howley, a marathon open water swimmer from Waltham, Mass., agreed to
help organize an international, 25-mile swim the length of Lake Memphremagog,
between Newport, Ver., and Magog, Quebec.We decided that this should not be a race, but rather an expedition with
three goals: To promote a more open border with our Canadian friends; to search
for the elusive lake creature, Memphre; and to raise money for our struggling
community center, Indoor Recreation Orleans County (IROC).Nine solo swimmers and one relay team
quickly and eagerly signed on.Barbara Malloy added her enthusiastic support of our swim.And so, In Search of Memphre, was born, the border was re-opened to an
international swim, over $27,000 was raised, and the “search” was begun.

On September 10th,
2011 at midnight, the swimmers started out of Newport and faced stiff headwinds
during much the night.Only four
completed the 25-mile swim because of the conditions.However, one of the four, Charlotte Brynn, Director of the
Swimming Hole in Stowe, Ver., had an encounter during the night which she has
described in detail.It occurred while she was swimming
in the dark and in the deep section of the lake.Her kayaker had been blown back by the sometimes howling
winds.Although our patrol boat
was keeping an eye on her from a distance, she was relatively alone for a
period of time.This is a report
of her experience:

"In the dark of the night
between Newport and the Canadian border the head wind was blowing and the water
was rough, yet there was an eerie calmness, I was swimming in the deep of the
lake when I felt something brush over my thigh, I looked around and there
were no other swimmers or kayakers near me, whatever it was was in the lake,
when it touched my leg I could feel a vibration, then it diminished to a
tingling sensation must be an electric eel, wonder if they have those in the
lake, I thought, there was a tingling in my leg for a while, it felt
weird, nothing like anything I've experienced before, fish, seals, seas
lions, dolphins... from all the things I've swum around before this was
very different.

"Then a short time later it
hit me again, kind of slithered over my leg, not like a quick hit, it was like
it was checking out what I was, it felt warm and kind of slithery, it was like
listening to a buzzing or vibration only instead of audio it was a sensation in
my leg, then it was gone, my leg tingled for a while and then whatever was
playing with me went off into the night and so did I.

"There it is, it was a strange
encounter and one I cannot explain..."
-- Charlotte J. Brynn, Stowe, VT

We circulated Charlotte’s account
to swimmers and friends.Ray
Pronto, one of those who read it, sent us an e-mail saying that his mother,
Velma Coburn, had been out on the lake one evening back in the 1970’s with her
husband, Duane Coburn (now deceased), and two friends, Helena Hicks and Earl
Hicks (also deceased) when they saw something.We asked Ray and his brother Charlie to see if Velma would
be willing to talk with us.She
agreed, and on Saturday, March 10th, we met. Velma is 84 years old and is as
clear-headed, bright-eyed, and pleasant as anyone we’ve ever met.She has not discussed her experience
outside her family but, at our request, decided to talk about the encounter
which took place on July 4th, 1974.She said the four of them were out on the lake by Owls Head
late in the evening in their Chris Craft boat.She doesn’t drink and the four were not drinking that
night.Velma provided us with a
detailed, handwritten account by Duane, which he wrote up that night or the
next day.She said that she has
kept this account all these years and it has only been disclosed to one other
person outside the family prior to our meeting.She described seeing what appeared to be the tail, up out of
the water, and at another time she saw the creature’s head and eyes high out of
the water.The following is a
transcription of Duane’s handwritten account: Time of sighting
approx. 10:50 pm

July 4th,
1974.

First sighting of
anything unusual was a 30 ft streak of light underwater seen by Helena
Hicks.Two to three minutes later
an unmoving object passed by starboard side of boat.At this time, object resembled roughly the same and size of
a blue heron being about five feet above water.At this time, boat was cruising at about 1500 RPM or an
estimated 15 MPH.At this
sighting, boat increased speed to an estimated 22 MPH while making a 180 degree
turn and gave chase with object in spot light.While giving chase, object looked more like a tail with
either white or florescent stripe (^^^).Object was chased in NW direction for two to three minutes.Chase ended at this time as operator of
boat realized he had become completely disoriented as to his exact location on
lake and became concerned about rocks or other hazards.At this time the boat came to a full
stop and so did the object of the chase.

At this time, neck,
outline of back of head became visible in spot light.The head was 6 to 8 feet above water, shaped similar to a
bird or turtle as far as curve of back of head.The head showed (it turned about 120 degrees to face us) two
eyes 24” to 36” apart.The eyes
did not glow red as many animals in artificial light, they were a pale yellow
or light green.The head appeared
to be about three feet wide (this was determined by the width of the eyes) and
could not distinguish size or location of mouth, depth or length of head.Neck was 12” to 18” thick and long like
snake.Probably black or dark
brown in color.Eyes were about
the size of a baseball.

At this time chase
was completely abandoned.The boat
was turned SE and heading home.Boat was doing about 17 or 18 MPH and object was following boat south
and stayed about 200 yards to back of boat.This lasted for 10 min.Eyes were visible without spot light.Only light in that direction was stern
light.Sighting concluded after 10
minutes of being followed.

/s/
Duane Coburn

Velma gave us the original document so that we could copy it.She agreed that it was time to disclose
this information to the public, although she really didn’t want to talk to
anyone else about her experience.

One evening, recently, we were
describing Velma’s experience to Steve Poulin, a local resident who was born
and grew up in the area.He
hesitated for a bit, and then said to us.“You know, I’ve seen some s___ out on that lake.”He said he’d never told anyone about
this other than his wife.He then
said that he had been diving and swimming off of Horseneck Island when he was
17 years old.He came up out of
the water and saw three bumps breaking the surface.It quickly disappeared.He and his buddy got out of the water “very quickly,” got
into their boat, and went over to the spot, looking for a log or some other
object that would explain what they saw.It was gone.